


About a man of iron...

by Cirenegs



Series: Riley's journey through the MCU [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Original Characters - Freeform, Riley Romanoff (OC)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 09:49:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21318193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cirenegs/pseuds/Cirenegs
Summary: Riley's world is yet again turned upside down. She doesn't mind, she gets to meet the famous Iron man.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Riley's journey through the MCU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1493942
Kudos: 1





	1. A morning like no other

**Author's Note:**

> Finally updated and began with the movies!

**2011**

Life at the Romanoff’s had become relatively mundane. Nat went to work some days, others she stayed at home with her daughter after she arrived from class. Clint visited most of the time, he always brought her some stuffs from the farm. Nat didn’t like the chicken she saw last time in the kitchen, Riley didn’t want to leave Fred anymore.

But she always did what her mother told her, Fred went back to the Farm with Hawkeye and he was banned from the house. Laura loved it.

But for most days, things tended to take some ugly turns. At least in the little girl’s point of view. Riley had gotten back from school. It definitively was not her day, not after the kids had taunted her into punching them and she refused, getting pushed and kicked a bit. Not even when the restroom’s hand wash sprayed her without mercy and more laughs could be heard from the back of the classroom as she entered with her uniform wet. Even worse when her shoe was untied and she tripped when she entered her home, almost letting a curse out.

But nothing seemed bad if compared to her mother packing. 

The little silhouette of her daughter made Natasha grimace. She sighed.

“I’ll leave for a few days, bug.” Natasha explained at the crushed kid, who kept quiet and didn’t dare to look at her. Natasha crouched down to her level, hugging her. “Hey, it’s alright.”

“Why does it have to be you?” Riley asked in a low voice, letting the tears run down her face. “You promised you would be there.”

“I know kiddo, I know.” Natasha tried to sooth her, she knew it had been terribly scheduled that would make her lose her daughter’s first graduation. “But there will be times mommy will have to leave to save the world, and she’s trying to do it for you.”

Riley wanted to cry more, she wanted to scream at whoever though about the mission that would send her mother far. But she kept it to herself. “I understand mommy.” She said, separating from the older woman. “Can I get a phone call when you’re there?”

Natasha ruffled her hair. “You don’t need to ask for one.”

Riley went to the couch and turned on the TV. She kept switching channels, Natasha watched her as she repeated her actions. The news was about a man talking back to the government, saying his technology would never be reached, not until 20 years more. Riley frowned at the arrogance of the man, thinking she would never associate with someone like that.


	2. Monaco

It was so early for her to be up. She had been awake for an hour, the thing her mother attended in Monaco was about to start, she munched on her cereal while looking at the screen. Riley only knew she was there, SHIELD wouldn’t give her more information. Maybe it was her mother’s desire. She mindlessly watched the TV, Clint was asleep upstairs and he wouldn’t be happy if she had eaten all the cereal in a few days. 

She felt something wrong. Suddenly, a name changed for the American participant. Stark was written on screen now. _Wasn’t it the same man that appeared on the news a few days before?_ She thought, raising an eyebrow. _Isn’t it also mom’s mission related to him?_

The phone on the table was her objective, she called her. She didn’t feel relaxed and something was _definitively_ wrong. “Mom?” She asked, Clint had left the phone the night before there, he didn’t expect her to call so early. “Uncle Clint told me I could get one call.”

“Bug, now’s not really a good time.” There were loud voices and she could imagine her mother running back and forth trying to keep things clear. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“I’m watching it right now, mom.” The race had started, everything was fine for a few minutes until a man walked through the car’s route. His suit burned down, he had cables that lighted up. He extended one above a car that came his way. “H-he did that to the car.” Natasha muttered a curse, Riley saw as other cars were torn apart. “Please, don’t get close to that, I know it’s your job…”

“Everything will be fine, I can’t blow my cover though.” Natasha looked for Happy or Pepper. “Talk to you later, bye.”

Before Riley could say anything else, the call ended. “Bye.” She muttered to herself, Clint woke up and saw her. “And… She’s gone.” Riley tossed the phone and sat on the sofa, watching the screen as the bad guy was detained by Iron man. 

****************

“Iron man never stopped protecting us,” Pepper continued explaining through the phone, “the events in Monaco proved that.” 

“Hello?” Natasha answered the phone again. Since Monaco, they had to explain every action Mr. Stark took there. But Pepper could hear a little voice screaming something. “Sweetie, sweetie…” Natasha tried to calm down the person she was talking to, glancing at Pepper, who faked ignorance. “They’re under your bed, we left them there.” There were noises from the other side, but not as loud as before. “And your uncle?” Natasha asked. “Tell him you can go, but no new toys, you still have that big bear he bought you last time.” She was silent for a moment and smiled. “Okay, love you too, bye.”

Pepper smiled, having an idea of who was behind the call. “Who was that?” 

“My daughter, Riley.” Explained Natasha. “She’s 8, she’s nervous about what happened in Monaco, that’s all.”

Pepper tried to give her support. “She’ll be okay, give it a few days.” Natasha smiled and both continued working. 

On the other side of the ended call, a little girl with H/C hair and E/C eyes smiled to her uncle. “She said we can go!” She went to her room, looking for her boots, and returned to the living room where the adult was waiting for her. “I’m going to get a big ice cream.”

Her uncle, a grown man with light brown hair and green eyes, yawned and took her hand. “Please, my wallet can’t take it, kiddo.” He locked the door behind them and stared at her niece. The little girl was sad because her mother wasn’t there with her on a special day. “Hey, I know you’re sad because she’s not here today, but when she gets here, we will all celebrate.”

“Okay.” Riley smiled. Both started walking down the stairs in silence and got to the street. “Can I get a balloon?”

“No.” Riley knew her uncle Clint would get her that balloon nevertheless. She pouted and kept walking.


	3. The little bug

As Riley waited for her uncle to come home, she sat on the stairs by the door reading a book, Clint loved giving those to her, she got lost in them most of the time. She had lost track of time, almost finishing the book, when someone blocked the light for her. She frowned, uncle Clint knew he would get hurt if he did that to her. Looking up, she frowned at the unknown man. 

“Are you alone, little girl?” He asked, Riley noticed an accent in his way of speaking. Big alarms blared in her mind.

“No, my uncle is here.” She stood up and hugged her book. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

As she turned, the man grabbed her forearm. Riley gasped and tried running away, the man pulled her to a truck. “Romanoff messed with us, it’s time she pays for that.”

“Who’s Romanoff?” Riley tried to play dumb, it had work before but she was too close to the truck that her voice wavered, scared about the situation she got in. “My last name’s Wilde!” She kept trashing and screaming, somebody had to help her, right?

“Hey!” She couldn’t see through her tears who punched the man, she fell to the floor, getting as far as she could from the truck. Clint left the man on the street and checked his niece for any injuries. “Riley, are you okay?” She kept sobbing and asking for her mother, Clint got them inside the house and locked the door. Protocol: _Protect the bug_ was a go. 

Riley had been crying all day, asking for Natasha to return. She was scared of the shadows that lurked in the house, she was even more scared of the man that tried to take her when she returned from her school. Fortunately, Clint arrived just in time to get her, arresting those involved. 

Still, both of them knew this was the calm before the storm and they wished for it to not be strong. 

Clint had sent her to sleep, telling her he would be outside if she needed anything. She thought he would call Laura and see how Cooper’s last day at Preschool was, after all, he didn’t shut up all day. Riley knew he was trying to ease her mind, she still felt paranoid. Her uncle’s whispers were heard outside, she tiptoed to the door and tried to listen. 

“I know I shouldn’t contact you.” His words were clear enough for the girl to understand. “They gave me permission.” _SHIELD_, she supposed. “Well, they gave Riley permission, but she’s going to be sad if you say no.”

There was a long pause, she clearly heard her uncle sigh. “That’s why I’m asking you.” She quietly opened the door, looking at the distressed face of her uncle. “She practically begged to see you, please.”

“Uncle Clint?” She said, faking as she was rubbing her eyes as if she had just woken up. 

“The bug is flying, gotta go.” Clint said, ending the call. Riley was not amused at the code he had just said. “Hey little bug, what’s up?”

“The ceiling.” She responded with sarcasm, looking up. When she saw the stars, she gaped. “At least, that’s what I hoped to see.”

“We got to go, something happened here.” Her eyes wandered behind him, she saw the bags he had packed. “We’re going to California, see your mom there.”

“What happened to the house?” The more she kept walking through the place, the more disaster she saw. A few bullets on the ground, the remains of the celling, even a burned towel. She faced the man. “Uncle Clint, is this something about my mom’s job?”

Clint was visibly nervous. “Y-yeah, they kind of found the house.” Riley’s eyes widened, Clint sighed and gave her an empty bag, signaling for her to pack a few stuffs. “Look, we’ll stay off the radar for a few weeks, it’ll be easy.” Riley nodded, walking back to her bedroom. “Plus, you get to see your mom.”

Clint had seen his fair share of Riley’s happiness moments, but nothing compared to the bright smile and jumping she did at that time. “What are we waiting for?” She grabbed the bag and ran to pack as fast as she could.


	4. Overthinking

They arrived to California the next morning, Natasha had taken the morning off to see her kid, SHIELD could take care of Stark one day without her. If Riley needed a day with her mother, then Nat would defy the stars to give her that. Natasha took them to see everything in the city, they had lunch together and then Natasha went off to work, leaving Riley with her uncle. 

Clint and her had decided to stay in the hotel that night, Riley wanted to sleep after the whole ordeal of running away. She still had some questions that Clint tried to answer at dinner, where they ordered some pizza. Clint assured her a lot of times it was because of Natasha’s work, and they were under the protection of SHIELD until it passed. Riley wasn’t so sure anymore, she felt as if something was not right.

Riley thought it was a coincidence, SHIELD tried to protect the human race. SHIELD was the one that gave them a new chance, both to her mother and her. They couldn’t be bad.

At least she believed that.


End file.
